Border School Districts in California Urge Sewage State of Emergency for Student Health

San Diego (Report on the Border) — Water polluted by raw Mexican sewage was pouring at a rate of 171 million gallons per day as of Monday morning, according to the International Boundary and Water Commission.

The transboundary volume in the Tijuana River this year has been recorded at 25.3 billion gallons, according to the IBWC. However, the flow’s composition is estimated to be 95% rainwater.

Numerous recent studies have revealed that when bacteria from tainted sewage runoff are released into the air and ingested by hundreds of thousands of people living in and around the valley, the result can be illness.

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According to Mary Doyle, a former board member of the South Bay Union School District, “the School of Public Health at San Diego State did a study, as well as Scripps and UC San Diego.” “This area is smelling like rotten eggs and hydro sulfuric acid, which can’t be harmless,” anecdotally stated. “People are getting sick, kids are getting sick.”

Doyle has been pressuring school districts to pass resolutions or proclamations urging California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden to declare a state of emergency over sewage.

This proclamation would provide cash to address problems related to the continuous sewage flows.

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Doyle thinks this would be beneficial for thousands of youngsters who attend schools across the Tijuana River Valley.

As of right now, the Chula Vista school system is considering Doyle’s advice, while the South Bay Union School System and Sweetwater Union High School District have already done so.

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“We are suffering down here, and if we can get school boards on board and get students writing letters, that will be a legacy and a future for them,” stated Doyle. “Let us begin somewhere.”

Doyle stated that she hoped for participation from all parties, not just districts.

“The more they hear about it and the more it appears in the news, perhaps they will take action. This is a national emergency that is slowly spreading north of San Diego; it’s unbelievable that things have gotten this bad, and they should know that.”

The South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant is allegedly outdated and in desperate need of repair, and this week the congressional delegation from San Diego contributed to the passage of an appropriations measure that includes an additional $156 million for its rehabilitation.

Most of the sewage from Mexico would be collected by the expanded plant, which would then purify it and release it offshore, away from the Tijuana River Valley.